Auditory Processing Deficits: * Frequently asking the speaker to repeat him/herself or occasionally saying “huh/what?” * Always seems to be missing a part of the information. * Misunderstanding/substituting parts of the information.

Phonological Disorders (speech sounds out of order/missing sounds in words): * These are processes that the child uses in their spontaneous speech (i.e. inserting /j/ in the middle of words “paja” instead of “panda”). * Final sound deletion (i.e. “do” instead of “door,” “ti” instead of “tip”).

Apraxia of Speech: * Mouth seems to be searching for the right sounds; frequent misproduction of sounds (i.e. “tornado,” “torbado,” “tornadio” all instead of “tornado”).

For the pediatric population, our services begin with a comprehensive speech and language assessment (either provided in our facility or brought form other facilities) to determine whether or not the child’s communication skills are that of a typically developing child, and whether or not further professional intervention is required.

Our Assessment Tools Include, But Are Not Limited To:

CELF-4

Preschool Language Scale Screening – 4 (PLS-4)

Preschool Language Scale Assessment – 4 (PLS-4)

Goldman-Fristoe Test of ARticulation – 2 (GFTA-2)

Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS)

Rossetti Infant-Toddler Language Scale

Informal Observation, Audio Tape Analysis

Expressive-One-Word-Picture-Vocabulary-Test (EVT)

Receptive-One-Word-Picture-Vocabulary-Test (RVT)

Therapy Techniques Available:

Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)– The Picture Exchange Communication System, a non-technological augmentative communication system, uses picture symbols to help individuals acquire a functional means of communication (Bondy & Frost, 1994). PECS is appropriate for individuals who are nonverbal or may speak with limited effectiveness including articulation or motor planning difficulties, limited communicative partners, lack of initiative in communication, etc.

Social Communication Emotional Regulation Transactional Support (SERTS)– SCERTS offers a framework of specific goals and procedures for assessment and educational programming. SCERTS supports developmental progress in three domains: Social Communicationfocuses on building a child’s functional spontaneous communication, emotional expression, and social relationships that allow a child to be a competent and confident communicator across many social settings and social partners (communicating spontaneously and establishing relationships).Emotional Regulationfocuses on helping a child to be most available for learning and interacting, and for preventing problem regulating emotional arousal to support learning and engagement.Transactional Supportelements that aid an individual’s progress as he or she works toward a goal.

DIR/Floortime/Greenspan Model for Children with ASD– Greenspan’s approach encourages the D.I.R. (Developmental-Individual-Difference, Relationship-Based) is a systematic way to help the child climb the “developmental ladder.” It takes the child back to the very first milestone he may have missed and begins the developmental progress anew. There are six “functional milestones” in this approach: (self regulation and interest in the world, intimacy, two-way communication, complex communication, emotional ideas, emotional thinking).

Kaufman Speech Praxis Technique by Nancy Kaufman– Well known methods for children with apraxia of speech, as well as growing in the areas of sensory processing, auditory/linguistic processing, and ASD in the preschool and early elementary aged children. It is difficulty for children with apraxia of speech coordinate oral-motor movements to combine the consonants and vowels necessary to form words. Therefore, speech can be simplified to assist with success in speech production by using word approximations.

PROMPT by Deborah Hayden– was developed in 1970s and is designed to embrace the physical-sensory aspects of motor performance important for speech production as well as the cognitive-linguistic and social-emotional aspects.

Seeing Stars by LindaMood-Bell– a well known method uses symbol imagery for phonemic awareness, sight words and spelling program to increase the speed and stability of phonemic awareness. This program assists and provides tools for clients who have not developed or lack symbol imagery that stimulates dual-coding and therefore have difficulty in reading-comprehension and fluency.

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